Gary Legum, Salon: The more we learn about the agreement Donald Trump reached with Carrier Corporation for the manufacturer to keep 1,000 or so jobs in Indiana instead of moving them to Mexico, the more the whole shaky edifice looks to be propped up by positive spin and Trump's own immense self-regard. ... Basically, the deal is short-term ego gratification for Trump that does nothing to address the long-term problem of manufacturing decline in the Rust Belt, or even honestly level with blue-collar workers about the future of factory jobs that are growing ever scarcer in America. Trump has no more idea how to do that than anyone else in his party -- assuming his party is even interested in doing so -- beyond bribing companies with tax breaks.

In exchange for tax breaks that will cost the state of Indiana $700,000 per year for an unspecified number of years, Carrier will keep 850 manufacturing jobs in the state, along with 300 headquarters and engineering jobs that were going to move to North Carolina. About 1,300 jobs will still move to the glorious workers' paradise of Mexico. ...
[A]t the end of the day, what a deal like this does is incentivize other CEOs to threaten to offshore their companies unless the president of the United States offers them a specific deal to stay. The companies that spend the most on lobbying will get access to such negotiations. The president will be negotiating with individual CEOs, one at a time, instead of working on policies that might create conditions for all companies to stay in the United States.

Meet the old boss, same as the new boss. Judged by his own metric, he is just another dumb politician, employing a tactic he said doesn't work and promised to avoid, Chump voters swallow it whole, clap and say, "Please, sir, may I have another?"